Almost half of all members of the House of Lords are also in private members
clubs, living up to a 1950s caricature of the British “establishment”, a
sociological study has found.

Analysis of the make-up of the Lords found that 45 per cent of peers also had a London club such as the Garrick Club, Carlton Club or White’s.

While Conservatives were most likely to be members of exclusive clubs, almost one in three of those from trade union backgrounds had also accepted invitations to join, the study found.

The paper, published in the journal Sociology, also showed the enduring power of Eton and Oxbridge, with around one in 10 of all members of the Lords educated at the Berkshire school whose past pupils also include David Cameron and Boris Johnson.

Dr Matthew Bond, a sociologist at London South Bank University, who conducted the study, said that it showed that, despite reforms, the Lords continued to be dominated by those with “vested interests in traditional status structures”.

He said it showed that: “The persistent hold of the British establishment on the political imagination is not without reason.”

Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, plans to reform the House of Lords to introduce a largely elected chamber.

Out of 754 peers for whom information was available, 341 were part of private-members clubs, Dr Bond found.

Club membership ran at 65 per cent among Conservative peers, 48 per cent among Lib Dems and 28 per cent among Labour Lords.

The Garrick Club led the way with 49 peers on its books, according to Dr Bond while Pratt's, the Beefsteak Club, the Athenaeum and the MCC each boast about 40 Lords. In total 15 clubs counted 10 or more peers as members.

Those who went to school at Eton showed a particular propensity to join such clubs, the study found, while they were also popular among this with a background in the military, civil service and the church.

“These groups – hereditaries, males, Old Etonians, Tories and, to a lesser extent, business people – have vested interests in traditional status structures,” said Dr Bond.

“In their social characteristics they also closely mirror popular conceptions of an establishment which have featured in popular discussions of the British power structure since the 50s.

“If they do not have a monopoly over elite positions, they at least have a formidable presence.”